CALGARY – Make plans for the parade, Governor Hickenlooper! The Avalanche is baaaa-aaackkk. Anytime you can go into the viper pit that is the Scotiabank Saddledome and come out with two points against the Cal-Gary Flames – well, sir, you are a damn fine hockey club.

OK I’m done. But, hey, a win’s a win. No, the tape of this game will not be sent to the Hockey Hall of Fame. Both teams had some glaring defensive errors, but it was the Flames that had the most glaring in the end and the Avs came away with a 6-3 win to salvage what had been a Titanic-like voyage of a road trip (sorry, that’s the second time today I’ve used that reference, but I’m hella tired as I type here in a Calgary airport hotel, with two Wendy’s quarter-pound cheeseburgers rummaging their way through my digestive system. I usually eat better than that, but sometimes on a long road trip, you’ve got to just pull the car over to a Wendy’s drive-thru and ingest some good fat and cholesterol.

I want to single out a few guys for praise. I said, I want to praise some guys. Praise…
– Chuck Kobasew – I’ve taken a couple of shots at him before, probably cheap shots. I regret it. I consider myself tough – but fair – as a reporter. I don’t want to ever take cheap shots at guys, at least not the kind that have no humor in them and and are just dumb.
I think Kobasew has always gone out there and given it 100 percent. Have I always loved everything I’ve seen? No, but that’s fair anyway.
Tonight, he played a terrific game as a depth forward. He did some good things on the PK, he played a simple and effective game at even strength and he really made a nice play on Colorado’s third goal, by John Mitchell, that gave the Avs their first lead of the road trip, 3-2 late in the second. Kobasew stole the puck behind the net and fed Mitchell for the goal.

– John Mitchell – The former U.S. Attorney General under President Nixon….wait, oh. The hockey guy. Yes, he scored two goals and assisted on another and was excellent all night. Think the New York Rangers regret letting this guy go for nothing?

– Jan Hejda – I thought he was real good tonight. He broke up a lot of plays with an effective stick, and even added a little jam at the offensive end. Would it be nicer if he hit a little bit more? Yeah, but for tonight anyway, he was good.

– Paul Stastny – I thought he was just awful in the first two periods, and the numbers back me up. No points, minus-3. But when you score two goals in the final three minutes to win a game, you get a nice notice. Obviously, he was a clutch player for a change in this one. The Avs certainly need to keep getting that from him.

– Matt Duchene – Some shaky defensive moments for sure for No. 9 in this one. But he essentially helped win the game with the penalty he drew with 2:48 left on Mark Giordano. It was a good, aggressive, north-south play by Duchene and it paid off. He needs to do more of it.

P.A. Parenteau – Another good game. His backhander of a goal probably can be called a soft goal technically, but he showed good skill in being able to corral a pass and get a good backhander off in the first place. His five goals leads the team.

J.S. Giguere – He had to make some tough saves, and played well overall. He was hung out to dry on Calgary’s third goal, by Alex Tanguay, with Stastny making a soft play not getting the puck out of the zone with time running out in the second period. He had no chance on Jiri Hudler’s second goal, too, where the Avs simply were tic-tac-toed on the play. I think Jiggy is still a high-quality goalie. The numbers the last two years back me up.

So that’s it. Nice and positive here on All Things Avs. Just like always.

Looking back at the 2011-12 NHL season, Adrian Dater and Mike Chambers will examine each player on the Avalanche roster. Find all the reviews here.

Seven goals, seven assists in 58 games for Kobasew, with a -10. While I don’t believe that much in plus-minus anymore as a relevant statistic (Matt Hendricks, for instance, officially was a minus-1 in Wednesday’s 2-1 Washington Capitals playoff win over the Rangers, but he was perhaps the best player on the ice last night. He got a minus-1 because a Marian Gaborik shot luckily bounced in the net in the final minute, off John Carlson’s rump) Kobasew’s minus numbers tell the story pretty well of a player who, when he was on the ice, generally not-so-great things happened for the Avalanche.

But there were a few times when I thought “Kobey” was OK. He played with some surprising physicality at times – a little too much for the NHL’s care once, earning a suspension – and he seemed to care out there at least. He had 62 hits in the 58 games and showed an ability to get under the opposition’s skin at times.

Seven goals for a fourth-line type isn’t a horrible number either. But let’s face it, it was always a bit of a strange signing by Greg Sherman – a two-year deal for a guy who had just come off two pretty bad years in Minnesota.

It will be interesting to see if Joe Sacco even uses him much next season, assuming he makes the team out of camp. Assuming he does make it, though, I think he’ll be used in the same kind of role. A forechecking type who can go to the net and put the puck in once in a while. Trouble is, he doesn’t seem to get the puck much anymore.

Terry Frei graduated from Wheat Ridge High School in the Denver area and has degrees in history and journalism from the University of Colorado-Boulder. He worked for the Rocky Mountain News while attending CU and joined the Post staff after graduation. He has also worked at the Oregonian in Portland, Ore., and The Sporting News. His seventh book, March 1939: Before the Madness, was issued in February 2014.

Chambers covers college and professional hockey for The Denver Post. He has written for the Post since 1994, after dumping his first 9-to-5 office job a couple years out of college. He primarily follows the University of Denver hockey team and helps cover the Avalanche.